Gun permit list tests right to know law

Sunday

Feb 24, 2013 at 2:00 AM

The emotionally charged decision in the Maine Legislature this past week to temporarily block the release of a list of Maine's concealed gun permit holders created debate even among groups known to promote the public's right to know.

Susan Morse

The emotionally charged decision in the Maine Legislature this past week to temporarily block the release of a list of Maine's concealed gun permit holders created debate even among groups known to promote the public's right to know.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Maine has not taken a stand, according to spokeswoman Rachel Healy. "It's something we're still considering," she said Friday. "Generally, the ACLU is in favor of keeping government records public.

"We are taking a closer look at this legislation to see if there are other civil liberty issues. For us it raises personal privacy issues."

Judy Meyer, vice president of the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition, serves on the state's Right to Know Advisory Committee. Neither group has yet taken a stand, she said, though the Freedom of Information Coalition meets Monday and the issue is on the agenda.

"I expect our coalition will be split because the ACLU is on our board," Meyer said.

The Right to Know Advisory Committee does not meet while the Legislature is in session, said Meyer, managing editor of the Sun Journal in Lewiston.

The newspaper's position is to treat firearm permits as any other permit, such as ones for hunters or plumbers, she said.

"All permits should be treated consistently," Meyer said. "Why amend the law to create a public access exemption for this one permit, without having a fact-based conversation about this?"

Chris Korzen, executive director of the public advocacy group Maine Majority, agrees nothing should be allowed to chip away at Maine's Freedom of Access Act. But, he added, "It would be incredibly irresponsible to publish the list."

Korzen summed up his thoughts by saying, "It speaks to how we need to have a conversation here."

The controversy springs from a Bangor Daily News' request for access to information on all concealed handgun permit holders in Maine. The newspaper stated it had no intention of publishing the list, but withdrew its request after a firestorm of protest.

Gov. Paul LePage's administration said there was a subsequent request from an anonymous individual in Florida. On Tuesday, Feb. 19, LePage signed into law an emergency bill to temporarily block the release of concealed firearms permit holders' names, addresses and dates of birth to the public, according to a statement released by the governor's office.

The bipartisan bill, LD 576, seals the records for 60 days, and provides the Legislature time to consider LD 345, sponsored by Rep. Corey Wilson, R-Augusta, to permanently make the information private. State Rep. Windol Weaver, R- York, said he is a co-sponsor of Wilson's bill.

The vote this past Tuesday was strongly in favor of the emergency legislation, he said, with only 14 Democrats voting against it.

Weaver believes the concealed firearms permit list needs to be kept private to protect residents such as a woman, he said, who contacted Wilson because she was afraid that if her domestic abuser knew she had a gun, he'd come to the house with a gun, too.

The emergency measure lessens the immediacy of a decision on the permanent bill, he said. "We have breathing room to think about this," Weaver said.

Even though the measure is considered temporary, Korzen said, "Republicans are declaring permanent victory. We're opposed to what the Legislature did this week on multiple levels. This is about the public's right's to know, not about guns. Unfortunately, the gun lobby has made it about guns."

Korzen said lawmakers are afraid to stand up to the gun lobby.

"It speaks to the culture of fear here, how afraid people are of the radical gun lobby," said Korzen, who said he has a hunting license. "There's an important reason the public needs to know. Felons are not allowed to have a concealed weapons permit."

David Trahan is executive director of the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine, a 10,000-member group based in Augusta. The Sportsman's Alliance requested Wilson submit the bill, Trahan said, after a New York newspaper printed the names of permit holders and a map.

"That information was used," he said. "Houses on the list were burglarized after the newspaper printed that map."

Entities requesting the information do not have to identify who they are, Trahan said.

"Nobody, including a bad guy who wants to do harm, has to identify who they are. It's a serious public safety concern," Trahan said. "Wilson's bill is important. People who get a permit do so because they feel vulnerable to the bad guy. This is a way of having some sense of security."

Trahan called the argument that hunting licences are public information "a lame excuse." A few years ago, the Maine Legislature made the e-mails of hunters and fishermen confidential, he said. This was due to targeted advertiser mailers, he said.

"It doesn't wash for us now to have the private information public," he said. "To us it's a red herring to confuse people."

Meyer also claims the argument to keep the information private is one of "hysteria and not of facts." She has found no evidence backing up the claim that after the New York newspaper published the names of permit holders, some of the homes were burglarized, she said.

"The law has been on the book since 1985," she said. "There have been no issues in Maine."

Trahan said he is a former state legislator who passed two bills relating to freedom of access.

"I'm not against Freedom of Access laws," he said. "People's lives and property were put in danger. That's when it triggered a debate for me. (There was) a reasonable threshold to meet, it fell on the side of public safety."

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